Karoo Mighty Men

April in South Africa means Easter, School Holidays and the Mighty Men Conference.  Once again Nathan organized for a group of 9, dad's & lad's, from The Island Church to attend the Karoo MMC in Middleburg.  

A time for men to consider their God-given role as priest, prophet and king... taking their rightful place and responsibility for their family.

Most important 1st stop was breakfast on the roadside. Struan Law offered to pull the trailer.(thanks buddy!)

 At the campsite, the boys asked "Uncle Nathan where are the toilets?"  Nathan handed them a spade and said "Dig yourself a hole."

(no, really there was some long drops already prepared for them!)

Ooops... someone forgot the top of the gazebo... thank the Lord for a tarp, and the huge tent next door to protect from the wind.








What is that in Nathan's hand... Look momma, he is eating an apple!!

Found our place to sit and ready to worship with
Robert Churchyard.

 Leo Churchyard, Nathan and Kudzai (Nathan's Zimbabwean 'son')

 Crest and his father Michael (more of the Island Church gang), Nathan and Leo

 Real men cook with a gas stove... using the trailer to protect from the wind.









Final service when the wives are invited to join.

Holidays with the Van der Schyff's and Nurmi's

Chronologically this post belongs a few weeks ago, but I had no pictures... 

Over the Easter holidays while the Int'l Volunteers were doing their own thing, we had guests...

Headed out to Calitzdorp Spa and Cango Caves, a fun excursion was planned by Nathan for Sherwyn and his boys.

Being the "best uncle ever" - Nathan taught Luke how to swim in the hot spa water.

and they ate like real men from the braai - meat, meat and more meat... not a vegetable in sight!

When they were not swimming they were riding the ostrich and exploring the Cango Caves

Paul & Virginia Nurmi arrived from YFC/USA for Julianna's pastoral care checkup the same day the boys returned.  

With sunshine the following day, a picnic and forest hike at Jubilee Creek were the perfect way to build relationships.  

On the hike Daniel and Paul had some deep conversations about politics in the USA.

Paul described spending time with Nathan as "an evangelistic outreach, counseling session, healing service all rolled into one outing" this proved to be true even at the picnic when Nathan prayed over a  broken ankle.

As the boys stood on the bank of the creek and looked at the tadpoles, Julianna took advantage of the opportunity to prove herself as the "coolest auntie".  Climbing into the cold water she was the first to catch one with our styrofoam cups and then teach them the trick to catch their own.













"And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all." 1 Thessalonians 5:14

and that is why God sends us visitors!


(not pictured... we also spent some memorable time with the Nurmi's at Buffalo Bay and Storm's River in awe of God's creation.  Thank you Paul and Virginia for your prayers and encouragement.  We can't wait for Virginia's 60th birthday bungee jump from the Bloukrans Bridge!)

stress

What does stress look like?

As you can see, I mistakenly chose to upgrade my blog and in doing so I lost my YFC World Outreach banner across the top of my blog...

This is what stress looks like!

I am learning that disappointment is an opportunity for Jesus to be glorified, either by helping find a solution or do a miracle and re-create it!  Already God has given me a couple of solutions (I would rather just have the miracle and when I open my blog next time it just re-appears... but somehow I think He wants to grow my character instead), so my loving husband will contact someone at our church with web creating skills, or I will ask Carolin (German volunteer) to create a new banner with her graphic art skills.

I also lost the links on the right side bar...

In the meantime, I will be still and know that God is God!!

Living the adventure of a servant of the King - who is the solution to our stress!
Julianna

An eggselent idea for breakfast

With Buyela (the performing arts national ministry team of YFC-SA) vising, Nathan decided it was time to cook the ostrich egg he picked up in Oudtshoorn 2 weeks ago.


A few facts about the ostrich egg
- weighs from 3 - 5 lbs each (ours was 3 lbs)
- equivalent in volume to 24 chicken eggs
- though the largest of all eggs, they are actually the smallest egg in relation to the size of the bird!


We invited Robert and Leo over for the experience.

Our bowl ended up overflowing with egg as we shook the insides out!

In the end we made 11 omelets... now what to do with the shell... If only I could carve like this...

Or if I had my daughter's painting talent...

Or I could be creative with beads... 

Hmmmm the possibilities are endless... 

Twins Born

After an evening of pampering (Lissy, Int'l Volunteer, painted her nails and plucked her eyebrows) the Buyela (YFC National Dance/Drama Team) girls decorated the tummy of Candice.

4 hours later Candice knocked on the door and said "I'm having contractions."  Praying in the car on the way for natural delivery (a c-section was scheduled for Monday) and for no complications, we arrived at hospital at about 3am.  The Dr's wanted her to wait for a c-section and gave meds to stop contractions, but God's plans cannot be thwarted.  At 3:47 Chloe Faith poked her head through, and at 4:01 Christopher James followed.

Weighing in at 2.1kg for Christopher and 2.7kg for Chloe











For you created my inmost being; 
you knit me together in my mother’s womb. 


I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; 
your works are wonderful, 
I know that full well. 


My frame was not hidden from you 
when I was made in the secret place, 
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. 


Your eyes saw my unformed body; 
all the days ordained for me were written in your book 
before one of them came to be. 


Psalm 139:13-16

Celebrating beautiful beginnings

He has made everything beautiful in its time.  He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathon what God has done from beginning to end. (NIV Ecclesiastes 3:11)

Showing off His creation... God painted a beautiful picture over the Knysna Lagoon  this morning... and below was the view looking to the east!

Staying with us until the birth and a few weeks of the recovery time, made this the perfect opportunity for The Island Church ladies to celebrate the upcoming birth of Candice's twins!

Her little man, Leo... caring for his mommy by rubbing her shoulders.  He is very excited to be a big brother!

The unfailing love of the LORD never ends!  By his mercies we have been kept from complete destruction.  Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each day.  I say to myself, "The LORD is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!" (Lamentations 3:22-24)

The promise of a rainbow

I know God used a rainbow as a sign that He would never destroy the world with a flood again... but on Saturday it was a reminder that He knows our needs... a need for a clear day... a week of prayers had been answered!

For the youth of Immanuel Ministries the sunshine meant outdoor activities at our makeup day for Youth Alpha teachings missed due to school holidays.

"spijkeren poopen"  - You have to squat to lower a nail into the bottle (not sure of Dutch spelling)

Julianna teaching on "Why and how I should read my bible."

Theo (Dutch missionary with Immanuel Ministries) teaching on "How does God guide us?"

Small group discussions

Games... worship... 2 sessions... two small group discussions... hot dogs (vienna's) for lunch... and clean up... all done by 1pm!  Now off to the beautiful wedding of Marilugh and Ryan (whom Nathan did pre-premarriage course for over the last 3 months).

The promise of the rainbow... an awesome day!!!

As mentioned above, Nathan has been busy with pre-marriage counseling. Only 2 weeks prior we attended the wedding of Monique and Ian Rosen whom went through the pre-marraige course at the same time...  congrats to our newly married friends!!

Let's Go Fly A Kite!

Wow, I am sure life must be unusually busy and privileges like kite flying must be so far removed from your thoughts. However, on flying my kite yesterday looking into the heavenlies I realised how excited God was with my gaze constantly in his direction and occasionally even being blinded by his brilliant glory (The Son/sun).

Without sermonising my recreation or relaxation there was an element of intimacy in His presence. Bearing in mind the wind is on my face and blowing around my ears (had a haircut so it wasn't blow through my hair). The brilliance of the Son blinding me some what. I am barefoot on the soft white sand of the Knysna lagoon. My arm muscles are taught my heart is pounding with excitement. I am sure you are familiar with the scripture of keeping your eyes fixed (focused) on Jesus author and perfector of our faith. Heb 12:2

In this moment I sense his saying I love my son and my response in that moment took even me by surprise "thank you, Abba Daddy but about the fact that I didn't have time to: (The doing things) pray for Deon, give time to bible study, tell my wife I love her, complete my prep for Youth Alpha etc..." I sense He said "don't stress, I've got it all in hand, I've answered your prayers already, your wife she's just enjoying watching you being like a real kid know your heart is pure and warm, and the youth Alpha I am ahead of you, I am doing a work in each of those 32 kids, I am the sovereign God, I am the creator of all things, I want you just to be and I will 'do what needs doing.'"

Well at this point I have persperation flowing into my eyes and my tear ducts are working over time. I began to sing "How He Loves" by David Crowder (sung by Kim Walker)

Goodbye Kombi - Hello Grand Livina

 A testimony of God's AMAZING provision.


The battle (loving disagreement) at our home over the past year has been one of our transportation.  Nathan prayed for 5 years for a "blue VW Kombi" (he had the exact picture taped to his bathroom mirror!), so when the Lord provided for him to purchase the YFC 1988 Kombi 5 years ago he knew it was an answer to prayer.  The Kombi hauled youth and volunteers all over the show, before I arrived, and has been faithful but expensive to maintain over the past 3 years.... and with rising petrol costs it had really become impractical, but very difficult for Nathan to part with!


2 weeks ago while walking Barnabas and deep in prayer, a friend tried to get Nathan's attention.  The friend (to remain anonymous) stopped his/her car and stood in the road but still Nathan was deep in prayer.  Finally after he looked up, they sat on a bench and prayed together about various issues the time ended with a financial gift to pay off our few credit cards so that we could qualify for financing and by the next week we are driving in a new (4 yr old) 7 passenger Nissan Grand Livina!  The biggest miracle was the peace that Nathan had about giving up his 'baby'!!

GOD IS AMAZING!!  And He provides for all our needs!!